Trucks carry debris to a landfill in Staten Island to be sifted for remains from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. / Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

NEW YORK CITY -- On a clear, windy Tuesday morning, trucks full of construction debris from the World Trade Center site headed to the city's Fresh Kills Landfill in a secluded part of Staten Island. There, the debris is being sifted for remains from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the twin towers and killed thousands.

The careful process, begun this week, is the first such search in three years.

On Staten Island, workers in the medical examiner's office are meticulously going through the debris. On Monday, they found two fragments of potential human remains, said Ellen Borakove, the office's public affairs director. The work will continue for eight to 10 weeks, she said.

On Tuesday afternoon, all was quiet at the landfill. A guard and an employee, speaking anonymously because they are not allowed to be quoted or identified, said they could not permit anyone inside. The early morning shift of workers who had handled transfer of the debris had gone home for the day, one employee said.